Garret Maher
obtained his PhD in Geography from National University of
Ireland, Galway, in 2011. His PhD research focused on
Circuits of Transnational Migration among Brazilian migrants
in Ireland. He has recently been appointed to the position
of Assistant Professor of Geography at the Gulf University
for Science and Technology in Kuwait (www.gust.edu.kw).

Introduction

Since the late 1990s and early 2000s,
when Ireland was in the midst of an economic boom, there was
a need for migrant labour to work in a number of industries
in which Irish people no longer wished to work. These
industries included meat processing (abattoirs),
hospitality, outdoor labour (agriculture and construction),
and were the main types of employment for many Brazilian
migrants. It was at this time that a number of Brazilians
were first recruited to work in meat processing plants
throughout Ireland including in Gort, County Galway and
Roscommon Town. They were recruited through an Irish man who
worked in the meat industry in Brazil (see Maher, 2010). Via
these initial recruits, word soon spread, through social
networks, back to Brazil that there was a lot of work
available in Ireland, and the numbers arriving quickly
increased in the years that followed. In 2002 there were
just over 1,000 Brazilians in Ireland; by 2006 this number
had increased to more than 4,300 according to census data,
yet other estimates suggest that the figure was closer to
8,000 at that time (CSO, 2003 and 2007; O’Neill, 2007).

Once
in Ireland, many Brazilian migrants sought to become
culturally established, and one aspect of this involved
religious participation and practices. Research suggests
that religious participation is a way in which migrants
remain connected to their communities of origin, and
religious communities have become vital agents in the
creation of transnational civil society (Menjivar, 1999).
Religious practices in the broad sense refer to both
institutional and personal religious expressions (Pargament,
2001). While cultural practices refer to the means by which
migrants create meaning, and with which they make the world
meaningful to themselves and themselves meaningful to the
world (Cohen, 1993), Levitt (2003: 851) believes that ‘one
way that migrants stay connected to their sending
communities is through transnational religious practices’.
This paper explores aspects of religious participation and
practices among Brazilian migrants in Gort and Roscommon
using data from a combination of over 100 interviews,
questionnaires and a focus group, undertaken in both
Ireland and Brazil. It also examines how involvement in
religious activities contributed to the integration, or not,
of the Brazilians and Irish.

Much of the recent research on migrant
religious practices suggests that both cultural and
religious practices are intertwined and the evidence from
this research suggests that migrants do not just attend
religious services for spiritual reasons but also for a
variety of other motives. For example, a study of Mexican
and Guatemalan labour migrants working in the agricultural
sector in the town of Immokalee, Florida, USA, revealed that
practically all migrants took part in the main sacraments at
the local Catholic Church (Mass, Baptism, Communion and
other rites) (Williams and Fortuny-Loret de Mola, 2005).
Attendance at Sunday mass also gives the migrants an
opportunity to speak with one another afterwards. The
Catholic Church also runs the Guadalupe centre which
provides legal services and advice for immigrants and the
Church is also embedded in a broad network of community
groups that provides significant resources for its social
service delivery to the migrant population in Immokalee
(ibid.). Several other religious organisations also provide
practical material support and the Catholic Church provides
assistance to those in need, via the Society of St Vincent
de Paul. The religious community thus acts as ‘the main
integrating force encompassing members on both sides of the
border’ (Fortuny-Loret De Mola, 2002: 18). For Senegalese
migrants in Italy, for example, religion is essential in
creating a sense of identity and ‘thus, the religious
organisation is very important in maintaining transnational
identity, in providing transmigrants with spiritual and
ideological points of reference and, mainly indirectly, in
aiding the development of networks which are combined with
other networks’ (Riccio, 2001: 595).

As previously
mentioned, research suggests that religious participation is
a way in which migrants remain connected to their
communities of origin, and religious communities have become
vital agents in the creation of transnational civil society
(Menjivar, 1999). Religion and Churches played a very
important role for many Brazilians in Ireland. The community
in Gort, although only officially numbering approximately
500 Brazilians in 2010, had five separate Evangelical
Churches (Pictures 1 and 2) to cater to their needs, while
the Roman Catholic Church of St. Colman’s catered to the
Brazilian Catholic community in Gort. In Roscommon, the
remaining 300 Brazilians also had three separate Evangelical
Churches as well as the Catholic Sacred Heart Church in
Roscommon Town

As the numbers of Brazilians in Gort and
Roscommon began to grow in the early 2000s, the Catholic
Church recognised there was a need to provide the sacraments
in Portuguese, both at the Church and in people’s homes.
Although Ireland already had a predominantly Roman Catholic
population, a cultural transfer of religious practices from
Brazilian Catholicism through Brazilian Portuguese did
occur. The mass is celebrated differently in Brazil, for
instance the congregation responds more vocally as they also
sing and clap during the mass, akin to a Gospel service. Two
priests, Fr. Kevin Keenan from the Society of the Divine
Word (SVD) Order and Fr. Sean Lawlor from the Redemptorist
Order, who had previously worked in Brazil as missionaries,
and were familiar with both the language and culture of the
Brazilians, ministered to the migrants. Fr. Kevin Keenan was
based in Gort and Fr. Sean Lawlor in Roscommon, although
they assisted one another when necessary. Before formal
Church involvement, a lay Brazilian woman was active in
organising the recitation of the Rosary in people’s homes.
She also arranged numerous trips to the popular Marian
pilgrimage site of Knock in County Mayo. Jessica, who had
been involved in the Catholic Church in Anápolis before she
travelled to Ireland, saw, in 2002, the necessity to provide
support for religious practices to the Brazilian Catholic
community in Gort and set to her task:

for about
six months....there was nothing for us in Gort...the
Rosary... nothing...I started the Rosary on a Wednesday
night in my house. The first night [there] was just one
person...then more peoples come...A few months later about
30 people every Wednesday go to the Rosary and we organised
for different houses when we get more peoples…Up to when I
left Ireland I still organised the Rosary in the Church
every Wednesday night...The first mass in November 2002 for
us [Brazilians], so first mass was 30 November 2002. Now
[before she returned to Brazil in April 2009] we have [mass]
every week, yeah every week we have mass now… We have Fr.
Kevin Keenan and Fr. Sean Lawlor. On the first Sunday of the
month we have Fr. Sean Lawlor, and the three last weeks it’s
Fr. Kevin, he has mass for Brazilians in Gort three
Saturdays in the month at half past eight in the night.

Roman
Catholicism became a common bond that brought Irish and
Brazilian people together, and is therefore also a tool for
integration. Actively involved members of the community
arguably feel a sense of obligation to that community and
Jessica and another Brazilian Catholic, Ana, demonstrated
their commitment to the Church community by cleaning and
decorating the Church. Every Tuesday they would go to the
Church in Gort at six o’clock to clean it, often for two to
three hours at a time, after they had both finished a day’s
work. Another marker of integration is participation within
the community; Jessica sang in the choir of the Catholic
Church with her Irish counterparts, and also read during the
Portuguese mass. Jessica herself believed that her
involvement in the Catholic Church led to greater
interaction among the Irish and Brazilians:

yeah, now we
start good integration, because the last weekend before I
come [back to Brazil] we have a special mass between
Brazilians and Irish all together…Lots of Irish come at the
end of the mass and say congratulations for me you know.
Good integration now and I think it’s better now. Now I am
back here [laughs] after all the work...oh my god, lots of
time I [pray] ask in the mass [for good integration].

The
evidence suggests that these masses aided cultural contact
and exchange. As well as Brazilians attending their own mass
(in Portuguese, with clapping and singing), they also often
attended the English mass during weekdays. On occasion, some
Irish people attended the Brazilian mass too, indicating
that cultural contacts through religious practice were not
just one way.

As well as the regular mass for the
Brazilian population, the Portuguese speaking priests also
arranged Baptisms, Communions and Confirmations. Fr. Sean
Lawlor, the chaplain to the Brazilian community in
Roscommon, described the feelings of one woman whose child
was Baptised in Roscommon: ‘Juliana [Brazilian] said that it
would naturally be lovely if she could have had her child
baptised in Brazil, but seeing that it isn’t possible she is
very happy to have it baptised here in Roscommon’ (Little
Brazil-TV Programme, 2006). Communions and
Confirmations in particular led to increased contact as the
Brazilian school children, their parents, teachers and the
priest all worked together to prepare the child for a
specific sacrament.

Evidence from both study sites shows
that the Brazilian children and Irish children received
Communion and Confirmation at the same time. The ceremony
was conducted in English, but specific translations were
carried out by one of the priests from either Gort or
Roscommon as the individual Brazilians received the
sacrament of Confirmation. During this time, children and
parents attended the Church together and there was a strong
sense of belonging to the community. The evidence, however,
suggests that many younger members of the Brazilian
community only attended the Catholic Church to receive the
sacraments and did not fully participate in the wider
Catholic community, unlike their adult counterparts, who
were regular Mass goers and involved in the Catholic Church
community. Some Brazilian adults also received their first
holy Communion, or were confirmed while in Ireland. Linda, a
teacher in Roscommon, suggested that many of these people
had converted from Catholicism to become Evangelical in
Brazil, because their parents had converted when they were
younger and they were forced to follow suit. Once they moved
to Ireland, many rediscovered their Catholic faith and then
chose to receive the sacraments they had missed after they
converted.

Evangelical
Churches

The
establishment of a number of Evangelical Churches in Gort
and Roscommon played an influential part in integrating some
of the Brazilian immigrants with each other, but may have
led to segregation of Brazilian immigrants and Irish people.
Prior to the arrival of the Brazilians, there were no
Evangelical Churches in either of the two study sites. As
the population of Brazilians increased, Evangelical
missionaries established a number of different types of
Evangelical Churches in Gort and Roscommon. Menjivar (1999:
594) suggests that ‘smaller, less bureaucratized and less
hierarchical religious institutions, such as many
Evangelical Churches… are better equipped to meet the kinds
of challenges posed by transnationalism’, which could
explain their growth and popularity among the Brazilian
communities in Ireland. ‘These Churches are also aware of
the congregations’ cultural language and needs, whether
these are local or transnational, and they tend to attract
followers from the same racial or ethnic group’ (ibid.).
Research from the USA, for example, shows that strong
religious networks influence ‘Brazilians to convert (from
Catholicism to Pentecostal Churches) because the Evangelicos
offer more practical help to immigrants, such as jobs,
housing and documentation’ (Marcus, 2008: 224).

At least five Evangelical
Churches were established in Gort and three in Roscommon,
including the Assembly
of God(Assembleia
de Deus), God
is Love (Deus
é Amor) and the Universal Church of the
Kingdom of God (Igreja
Universal do Reino de Deus, also known as the UCKG
HelpCentre), all of which were founded in Brazil. The
evidence suggests that the majority of Brazilian people,
over 60 per cent of the respondents who divulged their
religious affinity, were involved in one of the above
Evangelical Churches. Some of the respondents spoke of their
reasons for attending the Evangelical Church: the language
was one reason; all the Evangelical Churches held services
in Portuguese, all the time, not just once a week like the
Catholic Church. The pastors are heavily involved in
supporting the community, provided that the community member
seeking help is a member of the Church. For example, they have
parenting classes, youth work projects, and a crèche; they
also provide assistance for those who are in dire need and
on occasion purchase airplane tickets to help Brazilians to
return home. Yet, many people in the Irish community believe
it is a ‘closed shop’, in that they will not help just
anybody, only members of the Church, who are obliged to
contribute 10 per cent of their weekly earnings to the
Church. A social worker in Gort believes that despite the
cynical money angle of the Church, they ‘take the weight off
the community development centre, because the people are all
so well behaved, and they take care of their own stuff so…in
a way it’s better than nothing, but I wish it was more
inclusive, you know for everybody in the community’.

The
findings show that the Evangelical Church does provide
practical assistance to many. Rogerio was a member of the
Assembly of God in Brazil. When he arrived in Roscommon he
explained how he got accommodation via the Evangelical
Church: ‘the
first thing I did when I came to Roscommon was go to the
Evangelicals, the
Assembly of God. I asked could they help me with
somewhere to live and they arranged for me to stay with a
family. So I went to live with them’. Yet despite this,
Rogerio admitted that he went there because he knew they
would help; he does not attend regular services with the Assembly of God,
maybe only attending once a month. Others also [jokingly]
described how they went to the Catholic Church sometimes, if
there was tea or a meal afterwards, and to the Evangelical
Churches on other occasions for parties or to get to know
other Brazilians. Luana said: ‘I was involved in the
Evangelical Church and the Catholic Church....I don’t know
what I am [laughs]’. Other evidence from this research
illustrates that Brazilians move between the two Churches. A
social worker from Gort explained, in his opinion, why they
do this: ‘if there’s an excursion going from this
Evangelical Church they are all on that bus, if there’s
another one going from the Catholic one, down to Cork, the
next Sunday, they jump on that. It’s like Aldi and Lidl
[discount supermarkets], you know, whoever’s got the best
deals on for the week, they just go there. They go to a
Catholic service or a Protestant service or whatever’.

The
evidence also suggests that, as in the USA (Marcus, 2008),
a similar pattern of conversion for practical reasons was
evident. According to evidence from key community members,
some Brazilians either converted or joined the Evangelical
Church for economic reasons. Many key members of the
Brazilian community, who had established small businesses,
were members of the Evangelical Church and Brazilians were
aware of this. Research on Latina migrants
in Israel suggests also that participation in religious
activities can open an alternative path to social mobility (Raijman,
Schammah-Gesser and Kemp 2003: 746) and, possibly, Brazilian
involvement in the Evangelical Churches enabled this social
or economic mobility. However, not all Brazilians were
religiously involved, as indicated by a teaching assistant
in the primary school in Gort: ‘most of them [Brazilians]
they don’t have time really, they are always working and
they don’t have that time to be involved in the Churches’.

Due
to the fact that no Irish people attended nor were active in
any of these Churches, there was segregation in the
Evangelical community. It is important to emphasise that
this segregation was only related to religious practice and,
in the wider community, the majority of Evangelicals were
not segregated. Only one of the Evangelical Churches,
the Assembly of God
(Assembleia de Deus)
encouraged its members to socialise exclusively with members
of the Church and it also discouraged the consumption of
alcohol and the playing of sports. Within the Evangelical Churches,
the pastors in particular kept to themselves. For this
research an interview with some of the pastors of these
Churches was sought and arrangements were made, but the
pastors invariably cancelled every interview. This suggests
that they may have been reluctant to discuss certain
aspects, including funding arrangements: some of the
Churches encourage people to donate at least 10 per cent of
their wages and also persuade many to sell material
possessions such as furniture and electrical goods and give
the money to the Church. Therefore, the rise of the
Evangelical Churches has led to some religious segregation,
as the Brazilians attended a number of disparate Churches
and perhaps, in some instances, also impeded integration
with other Brazilians and the Irish community. In the
Catholic Church, however, the attendance of Brazilians at
regular English speaking masses, and vice versa, as well as
the reception of sacraments, contributed to greater
integration between the Brazilians and the Irish.

Conclusion

This article has
provided a brief insight into some of the religious
practices of Brazilian migrants in Ireland. The evidence has
shown that there are a large number of different Churches in
the two Irish study sites, with many Brazilian migrants
involved, to varying degrees, in some form of religious
participation. As a tool for local integration, the levels
varied among the different Churches, with Brazilians of
Roman Catholic persuasion being best disposed towards
interacting with the local population, due, by and large, to
their shared religion. Members of the various Evangelical
Churches, however, remained segregated from both the Irish
community and from other Churches, both Catholic and
Evangelical. The findings also suggest that the motivations
for their participation also varied between Churches;
arguably some of those who attended the Evangelical Churches
did so in search of employment or accommodation
opportunities.

*
Sincere thanks to Dr. Mary Cawley in the School of
Geography and Archaeology at the National University of
Ireland, Galway for providing feedback on an earlier
draft of this article and for supervising the PhD
research on which it is based. My thanks to all the
people who took part in the research and for all the
assistance I received from people in Ireland and in
Anápolis, Brazil. I gratefully acknowledge funding
provided by the Society for Irish Latin American Studies
through the Irish Latin American Research Fund, which
gave me the opportunity to conduct research in Brazil. I
wish to also acknowledge funding from the Irish Research
Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Finally
I would like to thank Dr. Claire Healy for the
invitation to write this article.

Bibliography

-
Cohen, Anthony, ‘Culture as Identity: An Anthropologists
View’ in New Literary
History 24, 1993, p.195-209.